Steam demo lets you play a dinosaur Soulslike from the Ghost of Yotei animator — bite a giant sword and slash through dinosaurs

Full transparency: the demo shows its indie roots. Menus and UI are basic, hit registration can be inconsistent, texture quality varies, and while controller support is solid, the in-game tutorials only reference mouse and keyboard. It crashed twice during my roughly 30-minute playthrough, but frequent checkpoints prevented significant progress loss.

From no intention of being a game to releasing it next year, Dinoblade demo is now available on Steam. #dinosaurs #indiegame #ComingSoon https://t.co/jqrudj4m6y pic.twitter.com/4N5WUO2pSHOctober 28, 2025

Despite those rough edges, it’s worth a look whether you’re a Soulslike aficionado or not. Encounters ranged from small dino grunts to mid-sized mini-bosses and full-scale boss fights. I had a blast in nearly every skirmish, although the demo’s final boss humbled me. Curiously, I often approached fights in ways the game didn’t seem to expect and still prevailed — the combat feels less deliberately punitive than many other entries in the genre, and shorter boss encounters help keep the momentum up.

I particularly liked the art direction and soundtrack, elements I usually associate with FromSoftware. Team Spino makes effective use of limited resources: the visuals have a somewhat dated look and performance on my RTX 3060 laptop was poor even at low settings, but the game nonetheless captures the brooding atmosphere and colossal scale that define Soulslike worlds.

Ultimately, the dinosaurs are the selling point. I’m an easy sell: a dinosaur with a massive sword in its mouth grabs my attention, even if that means enduring the familiar loop of poking, dodging, parrying, and getting mauled by huge, lumbering monsters. You’re there for the dinos.

Here are the best RPGs you can play today.